Office of Sponsored Programs - 500.19 - Budget Revisions

Title

Office of Sponsored Programs - 500.19 - Budget Revisions

Purpose

This operating standard defines and emphasizes the actions necessary for completing budget revisions to sponsored accounts.

Policy Statement

Budget revisions for sponsored awards must be approved by the sponsoring agency, must be coordinated through the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), and provided for through either budget revision provisions in the terms and conditions of the award or by agency approval of a budget revision request. All budget revisions must be submitted using the Budget Revision Form and sent to SponsoredPrograms@unc.edu.

Budget revisions are to be based upon the financial plan and cost trends for the designated award budget period. To the extent possible, budget revisions must reflect all necessary reallocations of resources foreseeable to the end of the budget period.

As the University is legally bound to operate within the terms and conditions of each award accepted by OSP on its behalf, the following actions must be taken prior to submitting a budget revision:

• Review of the award is imperative prior to submitting a budget revision, as it specifies restrictions on budget revisions.
• Review of restriction codes to the award account. Restriction codes, which indicate the types of allowable budget revisions for the applicable award account, are based on the award terms and conditions.
• Preparation of a written request for permission to make a budget revision that is currently restricted in ConnectCarolina or differs from those presented in the award. Written requests for such revisions must be signed by the Principal Investigator (PI) and submitted to SponsoredPrograms@unc.edu. OSP is the sole designee that may officially accept approvals from a sponsoring agency on behalf of the University. Receipt of approval of budget revisions must be made to OSP before revisions can be completed.

OSP requires a minimum of three (3) business days to process budget revisions that do not require prior sponsor approval. Sponsor-approved budget revision requests often require a longer processing period unrelated to actions taken in OSP. Thus, PIs and Departmental Administrators (DAs) are encouraged to complete requests in a timely manner.

Exclusions

1. The transfer of funds between award accounts is strictly prohibited.
2. Revisions solely for the purpose of coping with near-term problems (e.g., a $35.00 overdraft in the supplies category) should be avoided. If resources in all categories are already substantially committed to known requirements, a budget revision can only serve to defer and likely complicate, not resolve, a financial problem. In such cases, reduction of the project scope and effort may be the only viable solution.
3. Under the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have delegated prior budget revision approval authority to certain grant recipients.

Related Requirements

Unit Policies, Standards, & Procedures

• OSP Operating Standard 500.3 - Prior Approval Requests
• OSP Operating Standard 500.20 - Cost Transfers
• OSP Operating Standard 500.20, Procedure 1 - Creating Justifications for Cost Transfers

Contact Information

For questions regarding this operating standard and its related procedure, please contact SponsoredPrograms@unc.edu.

For questions regarding Pre-Award management or Post-Award administration, please contact the assigned Sponsored Projects Specialist (SPS).

For invoicing, reporting and other financial matters, please contact the assigned Sponsored Projects Accountant. OSP Staff assignments are found in RAMSeS or on the OSP website.

History

The operating standards in the Office of Sponsored Programs Operating Standards & Procedures Manual supersede any OSP operating standards, procedures and appendices previously included in the University Business Manual, a publication of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Division of Finance.